Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of the Ruler of Sharjah, Founder and Royal Patron of the Friends of Cancer Patients Society (FoCP), International Ambassador of the World Cancer Declaration for Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and International Ambassador for Childhood Cancer for UICC, donated EGP 10 million (AED5 million) to Children’s Cancer Hospital 57357 in the Arab Republic of Egypt, to help ease the suffering of children with cancer in Egypt and neighbouring countries and provide them with treatment and healthcare.

Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP) announced that His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, has allocated EGP2 million (equivalent to AED1 million) annually to set up a fund to aid children with cancer at 57357 Hospital.

The generous gesture by Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi coincided with the 7th anniversary of 57357 Hospital on the 7th of July. Through this donation, Her Highness showed recognition of the hospital’s efforts in relieving the distress of children with cancer by offering free treatment and care for thousands of children in Egypt as well as Arab and African countries, saving the lives of those children and helping them mitigate their plight and return to their families.

The announcement was made during a visit organised by FoCP under the directives of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi to57357 Hospital in Cairo. The delegation was comprised of HE Ameera BinKaram, FoCP’s Founding Member and President of the Board of Trustees and Najla Al Ansari, FoCP’s Business Development Manager. The delegation visited the children patients and met with the hospital manager, senior officials, and heads of departments and physicians.

Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi stressed the need to support children with cancer, alleviate their suffering and provide treatment and healthcare to children everywhere in the world. She called all spectrums of the international community to work together on easing the physical and psychological pain of children with cancer and extending medical and financial support to hospitals and facilities that provide healthcare services to children with cancer. She affirmed that healthcare is an essential right of children’s to lead a normal and healthy life.

Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi said: “Cancer is one of the leading causes of death among children in developing countries, which affects over 250,000 children every year. Around 90,000 children die from cancer each year and 80% of them are from low and middle-income countries. These figures must ring an alarm bell for the entire world to exert greater efforts to save the lives of innocent children by providing medical equipment and qualified medical teams for the early detection of cancer, and offering the necessary medical and psychological support for children and their families to help them overcome this emergent ordeal.”

Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi expressed her deep appreciation for the unwavering support of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, to various humanitarian issues, and praised His Highness’ initiative of allocating EGP 2 million (AED1 million) annually to assist children with cancer at 57357 Hospital, by setting up a fund dubbed Good Will Fund.

Her Highness urged philanthropists and corporations to extend every support possible to non-profit organisations that undertake to spread awareness of paediatric cancer, as awareness is an essential part of children’s right to healthy life, in addition to the support of hospitals and medical centres which offer the necessary medical care for treatment from this malignant disease, which claims the lives of innocent children all over the world. She praised the outstanding efforts of Children’s Cancer Hospital in Egypt, which is one of the region’s leading hospitals that offer free treatment to children with cancer.

Dr Sharif Abu Al Naja extended thanks and appreciation to Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi for her generous support of the hospital. He added that Her Highness’ contribution would help the hospital acquire the latest imagining technology in Egypt and the region. Allocating an annual amount to assist patients by His Highness Ruler of Sharjah will help hundreds of children every year, cover the costs of treatment, and accelerate their recovery. He hailed the great support extended by the UAE and its wise leadership to the hospital, saying that the UAE’s support began before the opening of the hospital, when Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation donated an ultra modern cancer detection system to the hospital in 2006 – an initiative which was followed by many donations from various parties in the UAE.

Abu Al Naja said that the Children’s Cancer Hospital is the largest of its kind in the world, with 260 beds and will have 320 beds when the new unit will be opened next month, enabling the hospital provide free healthcare services to greater number of children with cancer in Egypt, as well as Arab and African countries.

The amount donated by Her Highness will be used to acquire a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), which reduces wait times and lengths of stay, eliminates unnecessary exposure to radiation, and helps provide real time and more accurate exam reports. PACS enables high quality digital images to be processed, archived for extended periods of time, shared, viewed, and protected.

In her capacity as the International Ambassador for Pediatric Cancer in the world, Sheikha Jawaher last year visited the Children’s Cancer Centre of Lebanon, an affiliate of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the USA, where she met with patients and learned about their experiences. Sheikha Jawaher has been one of the main supporters of the hospital since 2007. Her Highness also attended the 11th African Conference of International Society of Pediatric Oncology, hosted by the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam. Her Highness visited Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, the largest government hospital in Tanzania, where Her Highness visited a number of child cancer patients.
Her Highness founded Friends of Cancer Patients, which aims to deliver moral, financial, psychological, and clinical support to cancer patients and their families in the UAE. Since its inception in 1999, the charity has helped over 1000 patients and their families, including children, men and, women, residing in the UAE.

Through the FoCP Sheikha Jawaher links the UICC childhood cancer programme with an important initiative launched by Her Highness, named ‘Salam Ya Seghar’, a fund which was initiated in 2007 and which is directed towards improving the education, health, and welfare of Palestinian children.

In June 2013, the Board of directors of the Geneva based Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) named Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al-Qasimi wife of His Highness Ruler of Sharjah as the official International Ambassador of the World Cancer Declaration and the first WCD International Ambassador for Pediatric Cancer in the world.

The honour comes in recognition of Her Highness’ outstanding efforts at both the local and international level and her significant contribution towards cancer control, which includes the launch of initiatives aimed at raising public awareness about the risk and symptoms of cancer and the importance of early detection, and providing best methods of treatment and care for patients as well as their families.